What does the general public know about the history of indigenous people on this continent?

For some it would be a reliance on history books, school curriculum-perhaps documentaries, and even to some extent movies, art, or media archives.

But for us the memory of the slaughter and abuse visited upon the nations is a living thing that dwells among us in this house-old ones who know the names of family members killed during those times as told to them by parents and grandparents.

No folded flag, no medals, no obituary cut from the paper to be saved, no flower pressed between the pages of a book, nor death certificates or gravestones-yet they remain within our hearts and our blood.

Their energy, their history continues in us-we are the perpetuation of it, and take it to be a responsibility.

We will not forget those names nor what they endured, and we will see to it that little ones know these names as well.

American culture in large part is based on assimilation, the absorption and adoption of various cultural aspects of others. That and the bending of individual will.

This is often glowingly referred to as a melting pot of ethnicity-but there are huge problems associated with it as well.

Saint Patrick’s Day and everyone is Irish- Cinco de Mayo and everyone is Hispanic, ad infinitum- the reality though is that for many it is merely an excuse to drink and party, not an homage.

They understand nothing of the history or the culture, with the possible exception of a hybridized one that meshes with the American way.

This hybridization leads to a loss of integrity-just as it has and will continue to do with our ceremonies when those among us seek to commercialize them or gain notoriety in doing so.

That is what we see now with this fascination of indigenous culture and the wholesale cultural vacuuming of it by the crystal wavers.

It is not an homage, an attempt to preserve, or has anything to do with respect-that too is something people either fail to understand or willfully ignore for their own reasons.

Our culture cannot be defined by any standard other than our own (though we can all note similarities if they exist as well as conflicts)- neither can that of any of other ethnicity- yet it is the very process in which the American Way operates.

A narrow minded, myopic, and too often selfish approach that in effect assumes some superiority-an assumption that authored such things as the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny and the concept of holding land in “trust”.

Inspite of this the memory remains, a memory that is embedded not just in our minds and spirits, but in our very blood and the land itself.

This makes us a “problem”-more specifically the “Indian problem”- and having been defined as such not only increases the issues we contend with but exacerbates existing ones.

Recently in a discussion the name of Massai an Apache warrior came up and a comment was made that Massai’s mind may have been broken, but I think the same can be said for the mind of this nation that proudly asserts all men are created equal, and yet in practice nothing attests to that.

Diversity is an absolute essential to the perpetuation of all things-conformity can be of benefit in some areas, but it can also neuter and weaken- GMO’s are a prime example of that, inbreeding another.

Man is not the ultimate authority-neither does he arbitrarily know what is best regarding all things-all one need do is look around to see it is so.

Allowances are made for modern day warriors who fight on foreign soil when they return broken and traumatized-it is said they suffer from PTSD- perhaps such an allowance should be made for Massai as well-as I think those who do, past and present, did not choose it to be so.

If we fail to tell these little ones the names what is perpetuated? It is in the telling, the oral legends and history that in large part activates the memories-remove that and what influence is left?

Should we leave them to discover their people and themselves through books and the sources I’ve mentioned, allow them to become cultural latchkey children who must fend for themselves?

One need only look at our stolen children raised in an environment other than our own to ascertain the answer. Perpetuation is not a given in every instance-it can require effort, purpose, and input.

I for one am really over this the nations are going to share their wisdom and save everyone else thing, when the reality is we our losing the integrity of our wisdom and it is being undermined and revised by some among us who think having a site and offering up videos endows credibility. They are agents of assimilation and waging a war of cultural genocide.

It is being stolen by new agers, corrupted and revised, and then fed back to us. Not only fed back but embraced by some.

Some who seem intent on convincing one and all we walked on water-the truth is we never did-no culture ever has. We are human and suffer the same flaws as do others.

Don’t think that is the case? Then I suggest you take a serious look at some of the associations of our “patriots”, “liberators”, “walkers”, “talkers”, and so called “medicine men”.

They are right in the midst of it. Why? Because that is what broadens the audience and perpetuates the money flow, and the fifteen minutes-that, and nothing else.

Like I’ve said of others-they wouldn’t know tradition if it kicked them in the ass, and they could care less as long as talking about it in lieu of living it serves their purpose.

Remember those old Hollywood movies where they had non indigenous people wearing wigs of braids, a loin cloth and inclined to say ugh and how?

Well these I mention have the same makeup and the same affectation-so it’s a case of Caveat Emptor- buyer beware- because they are certainly selling a product-themselves, with the culture thrown in as a bonus- a would be provenance for the unsuspecting.

Someone just commented to me that as indigenous people we have “arrived” when any are “honored” with a legend award.

My response was that maybe the same could be said when any among us could begin offering rewards for stolen property, or could escape justice for decades, but the tale is told by who is given the reward and for what reason.

When asked to explain I noted that rewards were given in the past as well. Rewards such as peace medals, blankets, beads, and had about as much meaning as the one Banks has been nominated for.

I guess there were rewards in the form of payment to those who signed on as scouts-maybe some moderation of rez life-I guess those who did have become legends of a sort as well, but obviously for all the wrong reasons.

NNN,or Native News Network, bills itself as being “by an about American Indians”-that’s easy enough to say as AIM has basically said the identical thing.

But it is the “about” that requires examination-and the “about” in this instance overlooks the controversy surrounding the leadership of AIM, the willful destruction of WK2, the abduction and murder of Annie Mae, the murder of Ray Robinson,the convictions of AIM members from drug dealing to murder, the affiliation with communist organizations, despots, dictators, and the way in which they have feathered their own nests.

Perhaps an additional unmentioned requirement is that the recipient must also be a legend in their own mind as well.

It overlooks the testimony of those involved with AIM, and the words of indigenous people who have told their stories that contradict the propaganda. Obviously it isn’t “about” those “American Indians”, or for that matter even about reality.

In a sense I agree, both Banks and AIM have become legendary, but the true reasons for this are hardly award worthy, and if the deliberate mandate as stated was to be indigenous as a recipient and apparently nothing more, then the standard was met.

This so called award has about as much value as that pop up on the net that says you’ve just won something, and like that pop up some will buy into it.

Clyde and Russell must be green with envy, and rightfully so, as they are every bit as deserving as Banks is based on their resumes.

I keep returning to look at this award winning photo taken by Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda- each time I do I can’t help but think of the role women have always played.

One of which is care givers as this photo so clearly illustrates.

They too often are the ones left to care for the dead and dying, to nurse the maimed and wounded, and clean up in the aftermath of the follies of men-in doing so I think in some ways they not only share the physical injuries of those they tend but in another indefinable way the death that often follows as well.

It is a huge burden laden with inequity that has been placed upon them.

We are conceived in a woman’s arms and ushered into life in a woman’s arms, we return there seeking solace when injured or in times of tribulation-there is both an irony and a symmetrical poetry that we would seek to die in their arms as well.

Christians have the Pieta as created by Michelangelo , a stunning and compelling work of art, but I say wherever such a scene as the one in this photo occurs another Pieta is created that rivals anything Michelangelo could have ever achieved.

Inspite of all we see, all that Humanities history has been, I doubt a part of Creator’s plan was conflict and for men to die at the hands of men-but I am certain it was never meant to be for women to die at the hands of men.

We are human beings-all of us, and the divisions that separate us pale before that simple reality.

When you shuttle back and forth between sites like Annie’s page, Ray’s page, and the Peltier Still Guilty site there is a noticable ramping up of discussion, of facts and evidence being presented, making it increasingly more difficult for the deniers to offer anything credible in the way of a defense. Which then lends itself to the predictable name calling.

There is a cross section, a diversity not only of opinion but ethnicity and awareness emerging-that is a good thing, because the cultivated base for the free Leonard, free Graham, free whoever, has always been primarily the non indigenous, for a couple of obvious reasons.

One being that as a rule they generally are better off financially, the other is any familiarity they may have with rez life and the issues indigenous people face can be said to be of a secondary nature, an observer.

Not being there, not living there, and not experiencing the day to day they are dependent on the media, “autobiographies”, You Tube, and video “updates”. There are exceptions to this rule but they aren’t the ones I am addressing.

It is said American’s have a penchant for rooting for the underdog-if so it has taken them a while to realize that is the status of the nations, now that they have they throw their support behind the dogs that are barking the loudest, those that are most visible.

And as is the case in all “campaigns” it is those with the deeper pockets who have access to a greater visibility.

Commonly among the nations few have this access, and those recognizable ones who do, do so as the result of a concerted effort to first and foremost promote themselves-that requires the effort to “own” a topic.

Something that is current and resonates with the majority-as in Russell’s endless droning about matriarchy while never have lived it, or being dedicated enough to address the issues of Annie Mae and the “reign of terror” indigenous women suffer at the hands of rapists and abusers.

It is campaign talk-that and nothing more-and like campaign talk vacuous, self serving, and lacking substance.

It seems as though in this diverse gathering they are now looking a little deeper, digging beneath, rather than merely scratching the surface, and like a sleeping giant beginning to rouse from their slumber.

No thinking, reasoning, person can compare the realities of the murder of Annie Mae, Ray Robinson, or that of WK2 with those the AIM leadership has offered up and fail to have doubts-to look at it as a puzzle and not realize there are pieces that have been hidden and in their place substitutions that do not fit.

In this penchant to champion who is perceived as the underdog all it should require is a comparison of the live styles that Means, Banks, Bellecourt, Crow Dog, and others are living as opposed to the ones they profess to speak for-the differences are glaring.

Once that is done then the question should be asked who and how does one profit from the misery of others? What form of “service” is it, and what is the motivation? Is there a single justification for selling ceremonies?

Having done so the next logical step would be to review the ever changing stories they offer up, the constant state of flux and revision these stories are characterized by, and ask the same question of who and why.

This isn’t rocket science-it doesn’t require a remedial reading class, only openness and a willingness to accept what is obvious.

So by all means champion the underdog, champion justice, express the compassion you have, but take the time to educate yourself and not cast the pearls of your good intentions, your compassion, at the feet of swine-sow them where they will serve the purpose you intend-where they will make a difference your effort desires.

Hopefully that would be those many who share the familiar misery of rez and urban ndn life-not the walkers and talkers, not the “liberators” and “patriots”.

Not those who stand convicted for their crimes, and those who hopefully will be as well.

There are children out there, our children, who are oblivious to the games of their adult counterparts, yet bear the burden of them-elders who are aware of them and can do nothing-because the end game for AIM was and has always been to marginalize elders, to usurp the position they held.

These usurpers would now attempt to present themselves as elders-they are not in any sense of the word as we employ it-they are merely aged, and the same as they have always been-nothing has changed.

Many of these children are suffering the abuses of abject poverty, of parents or a single parent who in trying their best cannot provide what is needed-and sadly parent(s) who place their own pursuits first.

Children, women, who suffer physical and sexual abuse that these erstwhile heroes have done little or nothing to address. Have you seen so much as one lone “update” by any of them that has candidly addressed these issues? One that has said many of our women and children are targets for this sort of abuse?

Christmas toy drives? Nice public relations move, but calculating, and one designed to profit from the innocence of children as well who only know the reality of a toy in hand or the lack of a decent meal.

How about a drive to create safe havens, or a drive to confront these issues for the destructive and shameful reality they are?

How about creating communal bs free zones devoid of all this-all this campaigning and lying? A haven where children can revel in the simple joy of being a child, where women and elders can sit in comfort and security to visit and share, and perhaps to laugh as well.

To do any of this would strike at the heart of brotherhoods and the warrior myths they propagate. It would call into question their claims, their manhood-and lay the blame of the existence of such shortcomings squarely at the feet of men and counterfeit leaders where they belong.

I would have our children to truly be the children of men, of warriors, and all that implies.

Wondering what current members of the pie patrol who write such glowing homages to Vernon and the rest of their idols have to say about this?

But then we already know don’t we ? Lies, feds, COINTELPRO, the usual shuck and jive denials while they struggle with the wedgie it creates.

This doesn’t stand as any sort of exoneration for Vernon as some have attempted -the
opposite is true-it exposes the manipulation and lies he created and participated in.

The feds have it as of 2001-hmmm, that’s really interesting. Eleven years and counting-must be building a hell of case to involve so much time. Way longer than it took to go after Enron, Madoff, or Abramoff for example.

It serves to expose the divisions and infighting that existed and still exists within this American Indian Mafia-that’s right, MAFIA-as in criminal organization replete with it’s own pathetic version of Dons and Capos who would make you an offer you can’t refuse.

Ironic that the late great actor Brando, whose stellar performance in the Godfather, would in the end have a six degrees of separation via the motorhome to these wannabe godfathers.

Not that I imply in any way Brando had any participation in their known criminal, drug dealing, raping,extorting, murderous activities-I merely find it one of life’s cruel jokes.

As is the case of all such organizations and gangs they have the low level wannabe soldiers like Peltier who always want to go the extra mile, be the most obedient, suck up the most, in the hopes of gaining favor and advancing through the ranks.

And as is likewise the case they have their own groupies, those fawning pie patrol members who also want to go the extra mile, be obedient, and fritter away their time sucking up in the hopes of being recognized.

But I guess ignorance isn’t gender specific, men don’t hold the copyright, and mores the pity-it might be easier to deal with they did-if the battle only had to waged on one front.

I can’t help but smile a little conjuring up a mental image of our boys the walkers and talkers, the liberators and patriots, standing in front of a mirror with cotton stuffed in their mouths attempting to emulate Brando as the Godfather.

Doesn’t go well with the rest of their costume-the beads and feathers, but they seek to make it their own anyway. The better role for them would be that of a eunuch-as they surely are not men.

I apologize for the length of this blog-a lot to be said though and worth the read I believe.

“This is a document was provided to federal authorities.”

In that there may well have been a recording also but remains to be seen. Obviously Vernon is beyond prosecutorial reach now, but others are not.

Vernon (Bellecourt) wanted to know what the outcome of my meeting with John Graham was, in view of the fact that Vernon had arranged the interview with the understanding that I would help Graham and AIM by creating a plausible alibi for Graham that could be used to demonstrate that he had not murdered Anna Mae Aquash.

Vernon said that John Graham had called him after I had concluded the interview with him to ask how well he knew me, to which Vernon had responded, “As well as I know most people I know,” which seemingly appeased Graham’s concerns.

As with the actual interview with Graham, Vernon and Janice (Denny) and myself discussed each location Aquash had been taken to in the murder sequence and how Graham had reacted to each.

Vernon and Janice had total familiarity with every venue and what had transpired there
and the main areas of discussion were: Graham denying that he had raped Aquash and that he fell apart when it came to discussing what had happened when they arrived at Bill Means’ home prior to him shooting Aquash.

I expressed my incredulity that Graham thought it was plausible for him to say that he wasn’t on the last leg of thejourney from Bill Means’ house to Amiotte’s ranch where he shot her.

Janice described it as “ridiculous” for him to say that, and we joked about the imaginary scene of Graham leaping out of Theda’s care as she drove them up to Wanblee. Vernon didn’t participate in the joke and then said; “And Theda’s involvement was so out of character with the Theda I knew”.

Janice (Denny – the wife of Vernon Bellecourt) and I then discussed how, even from his demeanor, it was obvious that ‘the word’ to kill Aquash had come from Banks, at which point Vernon bemoaned how Banks put them “in impossible positions of having to back and justify situations like this” because he was “influenced by idiots and psychopaths like David Hill and Peltier.”

Vernon continued, claiming that the Tent City group hadn’t been anything to do with AIM but after the shoot-out, because of their Association with Banks, AIM had had to support them. Vern said Peltier “had never been anything” and Janice concurred, Vernon ruing that he had “wasted 25-years” supporting him and how Peltier had become synonymous with AIM.

Both Vernon (Bellecourt) and Janice (Denny) agreed that Peltier held a lot of responsibility for what happened to Anna Mae and they believed that she would still be alive had it not been for him.

Vernon said, “She should have gotten out of there – and she could have – after the motor home and Pierre,” and they both said that they could not understand why she stayed.

Vernon repeated how out of character it had been for Theda to have participated in Aquash’s murder but both agreed that “she should have known better,” Janice adding that “Arlo and John Boy were just kids.”

I said that I hoped that if this case was prosecuted Vernon wouldn’t continue to try and
defend these people and Janice interjected, “Oh he won’t!” Janice explained how, publicly, Vernon “takes a position” because he is one of the few within AIM who can articulate points eloquently, but that he doesn’t always believe in the argument.

“God, I’ve defended these people and their actions for years; Banks, Peltier. Look at the
position they put us in. What choice have I had?” Vernon asked.

Of the Tent City group he said, “They were just crazy. I don’t know what the hell they were thinking! Christ, did those idiots think they were invincible or something? Janice added, “They could have got a lot more people killed. A lot of women and children.”

We talked about how Clyde (Bellecourt) had been present at the WKLD/OC house at Bill Means and I said I was sorry that Clyde hadn’t show-up for this meeting because I wanted to give him another opportunity to tell me about it in his own words and Vernon said, “My
brother would probably have just denied it again.”

We discussed how worried Dennis Banks must be and Vernon insisted, “Whatever contact
he had with Theda over Anna Mae Aquash did not come through me.” At this juncture Vernon went into a hypothetical trial scenario to ascertain whose and what testimony would stand up to scrutiny and he said that he had no doubt that Theda, Arlo and John Boy could be found guilty on charges of abduction/kidnap but that he didn’t believe Annie Mae’s murder would be prosecuted because there was an “informant involved or close to it.”

He said the Thelma Rios would never have done anything for him and this main concern is Clyde and that he himself is presently the visible AIM figure in this. Janice made it clear that she wants him to back-off and let, “what ever’s going to happen, happen.”

I said that people just want it to be over, to which Vernon responded, “They want it to go away. If over means prosecutions, I don’t think they want that.” I described this as a
cancer in the Movement and everything positive, the education programs etc. will mean nothing if this cover-up continues and Janice agreed, saying that “it needs to end.”

Vernon (Bellecourt) repeated how people “still say Anna Mae was a pig”. We then discussed what each participant could be charged with and he expressed a genuine concern that he could be prosecuted for ‘obstruction of justice’.

He reassured himself, speculating ‘Nobody would believe Arlo” and asked, “Could it be prosecuted 25-years later? I mean, what do people remember? What physical evidence is
there?”

He then switched to the murder of Ray Robinson and said the “principals involved were Banks, Hill and Carter Camp”.

Continuing on the subject of murder victims, Vernon stated that Rocky Duanes (Duenas) had been killed because he was an informant and repeated the anecdote of how he gave Rocky $5,000 from Bill Walton for Peltier’s defense in late November 1975.

He wanted to know when I had last discussed the Aquash murder with Dennis Banks and I told him it had been awhile but that I had no desire to do so again in the near future because Banks was such a bad liar.

Vernon said he thought the last time Dennis had talked to Theda was at the Whiteclay march in June 1999. He said how Russell Means had also attempted to talk to Theda at that time and then gave a diatribe about Russ and Ward Churchill, concluding with, “So, what would Russell Charles Means say if they put him on the stand?”

The meeting concluded shortly after 19:00 and soon after I boarded a flight to Rapid City.

“While newspapers and television talk about the lives of celebrities, the chief of the Kayapo tribe received the worst news of his life:

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff makes her mark and has given approval to build a huge hydroelectric plant (the third largest in the world).

It is the death sentence for all the people near the river because the dam will flood 400,000 hectares of forest.

More than 40,000 Indians will have to find another place to live. The natural habitat destruction, deforestation and the disappearance of many species is a fact.”

What moves me , what breaks my heart, what is making me ashamed of being part of Western culture, is the reaction of the chief of the Kayapo community when he learned of the decision—his gesture of dignity and helplessness before the advance of capitalist progress, modern predatory civilization that does not respect ANYTHING.

This entire Peltier issue is a recurring event accompanied by the all the aberrations associated with it- kind of like nausea when a person isn’t feeling well, and I’m far from being done with it.

My focus isn’t on Peltier, it is primarily on Annie Mae, but in this it is inevitable that a linkage exists that must be addressed. And as long as there is a single Peltierite who seeks to obscure that linkage then it is a thing for all to confront.

As long as a single AIM member refuses to address the known facts and opts instead to goosestep behind a bunch of bloated, preening, peacocks who call themselves leaders and patriots that too remains something to address.

As long as these peacocks continue to remain silent, flood the net with their propaganda, and insult one and all with their talk of matriarchy, tradition, and love of the people while enriching themselves and restricting this to nothing more than video commentaries as they check their bank balance, this too will remain a point of contention.

As pointed out on the Leonard Peltier Still Guilty site all it requires is the stroke of a pen, the affixing of Peltier’s signature to release the transcripts of his 2009 parole hearing-a step he refuses to take.

Might be a good thing for Kuzma and all the FOI advocates to pursue those in their pursuit of the truth-if it is a grave injustice that Peltier is incarcerated then surely those records would shed even further light on that wouldn’t they…….wouldn’t they?

The reason this isn’t happening is too obvious, too transparent, too detrimental to a crafted holograph presented as a martyr that has no substance to it.

Apparently “trackers” and young girls/women who want to boast about how “dangerous” they can be are incapable of reading sign, or prefer to ignore it, along with the rest of the hive.

And like those who see a melted and elongated bear track will claim it is Sasquatch, their claims suffer the same lack of credibility.

They toil desperately in the night of misdirection to construct crop circles of confusion and then assert they are mystical signs that speak to a greater truth-when all the while they are nothing more than hoaxes perpetrated by people.

Their approach is strictly a “white colonial” one where they attempt to make right look like wrong and wrong look like right, all while waving a feather in the air.

Neither Nibiru nor parole is an event on the horizon-the advent of 2013 will serve to illustrate the one, and the ongoing incarceration of Peltier the other.

Admittedly reality is more prosaic than myth and fantasy, but it is nonetheless reality-those who have difficulty accepting that are left with little more than constant revision, the invention of new fantasies, and perhaps the monthly routine of having their med prescription refilled.

It was said once that had Peltier been imprisoned in Texas and made his abortive escape attempt that resulted in the death of anyone, inmate or otherwise, he would have already been put down as the ” mad dog killer” he says he is not-that’s something for the accolytes to think about.

He’s taken lives, and contributed to at least the demise of one other, his fellow inmate. He has been a fugitive from an attempted murder warrant out of Wisconsin, and interrogated Annie Mae at gunpoint, there’s a serial aspect to that, and to my way of thinking he owes one-his.

If that translates to spending it behind bars it is justice. His good fortune that the U.S hasn’t a Devil’s Island or that Alcatraz no long functions.

Poor Leonard? Not in this life, perhaps in the next-in the meantime to hell with Peltier, the broomstick horse he rode in on, and his bogus Sundance.